There is much basketball remaining, and it is way too early to make any conclusions, but this has the makings of one of Izzo's best coaching jobs. Given he has taken his team to six Final Four appearances and won a national championship, that makes this season promising, indeed, for MSU.

The Spartans have been terrific getting to the offensive boards and working the ball into the paint and scoring, or then back outside and hitting shots. Oh, and they are playing strong defense. Those are the traits of Izzo's best teams.

Tuesday, the Spartans' backcourt of Keith Appling and Gary Harris was brilliant defensively in shutting down one of the best guard combinations in the nation, Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, the latter who scored just two points. Michigan's Glenn Robinson III, one of the best freshmen in the nation, was held to two points, as well.

"We didn't come in expecting Robinson and Hardaway to combine for only four points, but it is what is it," Appling said. "Coach always says defense wins championships. We wanted to come out and get a couple stops and it rattled them a bit."

The Spartans have responded remarkably well to the departure of Draymond Green, a tremendous college player.

Conversely, the Wolverines, who rose to the rank of No.1 in the nation with breathtaking play while beginning the season 16-0, are floundering. The Wolverines are 5-4 since becoming No.1. They have fallen to No. 4. They will, undoubtedly, drop further after this dismal performance. Against the Big Ten's top teams on the road - Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin and MSU - they have lost. The other losses were closer games than the one Tuesday, though. This one was humiliating.

People are looking at John Beilein's Wolverines as if they are soft. That may be harsh in the overall picture, but the criticism was justified on this particular night. They did look soft.

"They just got away from us," Beilein said. "There was no turning back after that spurt in the second half."

The Breslin Center is always an intimidating place for opposing teams, but it was especially so Tuesday night.

There were two rows of the colors Maize and Blue in the entire arena, both behind Michigan's bench, and only running the length of the bench. There were, maybe, 50 people in those seats. Two of them were Michigan head football coach Brady Hoke and his defensive coordinator, Greg Mattison.

But if there was a team that brought a football mentality to this game, it was the Spartans.

They pounded the ball inside to big man Derrick Nix early, and he scored with his right and left hands. Harris hit a couple 3-point shots as MSU got its inside-out game working. Beilein pulled his star, Burke, out of the game briefly. It was a disaster. At halftime it was 38-24, MSU. And the score wasn't necessarily indicative of how lopsided the game was in reality. It only got worse in the second half.

"It was like a perfect storm," Izzo said. "We played as well as we can, and they played one of their worst games."